1033 
- M. 12 



THE PROVINCE OF OUEBEC, 

Its History, and Its People. 



A PAPER READ BEFORE THE 

Associate Board ofTrinity College, 

vVr^RCESTER, Mass., 
Monday Evening, Dec. 14, 1903. 



BY 



GEORGE McALEER, 



^■'vVa.a. ■ -.^. 







PKESKNTI-I) 13Y 



THE PROVINCE OF OUEBEC, 

Its History, and Its People. 



A PAPER READ BEFORE THE 

Associate BoardofTrinity College, 

Worcester, Mass., 
Monday Evening, tDec. l4, 1903. 



BY 



GEORGE McALEER, 



Worcester, Massachusetts : 

Press of L. P. Goddard, 408 Main Street. 
1903. 



'r t° 



s^ 



' 'PiX-.xhoT. 



- 7f7 



THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC. 

ITS HISTORY, AND ITS PEOPLE. 



Despite the works of History, the labors of Historical Socie- 
ties, hand books of travel, the army of summer tourists, and the 
wonderful enterprise of the newspaper world, the old saying 
that " not one-half of the world knows how the other half lives " 
is almost as true today as it was in the distant past. 

Stretching away to the north of the New England States and 
beyond is the Province of Quebec, a country that is a veritable 
terra incognita to the great majority of their neighbors to the 
south, the people of the United States. To the great majority 
of these the name recalls only a very limited territory where 
winter reigns during the greater part of the year, devoid of 
interest, and peopled with an unprogressive if not a very infe- 
rior race — a downtrodden people whose rights are denied them 
by an exacting and oppressive government beyond the seas. 

A little time given to a consideration of this portion of the 
western hemisphere — its extent, physical characteristics, his- 
tory, and the everyday life of the people — may not be without 
interest and value while serving to make neighbors better 
acquainted with each other and appreciated. A little reflection 
and thoughtful consideration will also teach lessons of tolera- 
tion and justice to the residents and law-making powers in the 
United States, the boasted land of " freedom, equal rights and 
justice," but where in many things these high sounding and 
seductive claims are not so happily exemplified as in the less 
pretentious Country north of the forty-fifth parallel of latitude- 

Within the bounds of the Province of Quebec is embraced a 
territory many times larger than all New England, a territory 
rich and varied in scenic beauty and grandly picturesque. The 



Appalachian range of mountains extends into the eastern portion 
of the province, and the Laurentian chain stretches away for 
hundreds of miles in the northern part, contributing variety and 
grandeur to the whole country. 

Lakes and Rivers* 

Lakes are scattered in abundance throughout the Province, 
which gem the landscape and primeval forest, and which well 
reward the tourist, artist and sportsman by their beauty, extent 
and wealth of gamest fish. Lake St. John having an area of 
260 square miles, is the largest. Temiscamingue is next with 
an area of 126 square miles, besides numerous others of smaller 
size and lesser importance. 

The mighty St. Lawrence, ranking with the largest rivers of 
the world, after leaving the Great Lakes and the awe-inspiring 
Niagara Falls, lends a charm to the Thousand Islands, and 
cuts in twain the southeastern portion of the country through 
which its mighty volume of waters flow in a north-easterly direc- 
tion for hundreds of miles until lost in the ocean beyond. It 
has as principal tributaries the Ottawa, 600 hundred miles long; 
the Ste. Maurice, 400 miles long ; the Richelieu which is the 
outlet of Lake Champlain ; the famed Saguenay, which per- 
forms a similar service for Lake St. John and the country 
beyond ; and many others of lesser note. 

Most of these rivers abound in scenery unsurpassed else- 
where, and in cascades and waterfalls that prove a revelation, 
surprise and delight to the beholder. The Falls of Shawinegan 
in the Ste. Maurice, 24 miles above Three Rivers, are 150 feet 
high ; the Falls of the Montmorency, 8 miles from Quebec, are 
250 feet, and the rocky gorge through which the Saguenay 
pours its turbulent waters for a hundred miles, is startling in its 
almost p>erpendicular cliffs of rock which kiss the clouds, and 
which in majesty, grandeur, and extent are without a rival in 
the world. 

In the more northern parts the extensive forests, stretching 
away to the land of perpetual winter, furnish a home for an 
abundance of large game — bear, deer, caribou and moose — which 
is eagerly sought by sportsnien of this and foreign countries for 



the pleasure and benefit which reward such adventure and com- 
muning with nature, and also by the hunters and trappers of 
the Hudson Bay Fur Company, and the Couritr de Bois, for 
the peltry which commands good prices and meets with ready 
sale in the fur markets of the world. They also furnish employ- 
ment and remunerative wages to vast numbers of people who 
are employed in getting out timber and lumber for domestic 
need and export, and in more recent times for wood pulp, which 
has revolutionized the paper making of the world. 

Throughout the southern portion the climate is mild and salu- 
brious, the soil is strong and rich, and nearly all the varieties 
of fruit, vegetables, and cereals of the New England States are 
successfully cultivated. With increased population, and the 
passing of the fur bearing animals in the older settled portion 
of the Province, farming became the principal occupation of 
the people outside cities and the more populous centres. Sur- 
plus hay, horses, cattle, butter, lumber and other products of 
land and forest found a ready market in the United States in 
exchange for textile goods, agricultural implements, and other 
manufactured articles, until the termination of the Reciprocity 
treaty between the two countries in A. _D. 1865, after the close 
of the civil war in the United States, when duties were imposed 
upon merchandise passing from one country into the other. 

Relations with their Neighbors. 

During the existence of this treaty there was developed a 
very close bond of interest and friendship between the people 
of the two countries, and the sentiment in favor of annexation 
was deep and wide spread ; but on its termination in 1865 a 
new policy was adopted and developed by the people of Canada 
and all this is now changed. 

The termination of the Reciprocity treaty paved the way for 
and led up to the Confederation of the Provinces into the 
Dominion of Canada, the establishment of foreign markets, and 
of factories for the production of the various goods, tools and 
merchandise previously purchased in the United States. This 
has proved so successful and advantageous for the people, and 



has so fostered and stimulated a national spirit that now but 
very few if any will be found to favor, much less advocate 
union with the United States. 

In agricultural districts, particularly in the Eastern Town- 
ships, much attention is now given to the manufacture of cheese, 
of very superior quality, large quantities of which are exported 
and find a ready sale in the markets of England and on the 
Continent. 

To properly understand and appreciate the conditions, cus- 
toms, and practices which now obtain in rural communities in 
the older settled parts of the Province where the descendants of 
the original settlers overwhelmingly predominate, which so savor 
of mediaevalism, and which appear so quaint and fascinating 
to the outside world, it will be desirable to go back to the early 
days of authentic history and sketch in outline some of the 
leading events connected with the exploration, colonization, 
and the establishment of government in this northern portion 
of the New World. 

Early History. 

In enterprise, daring, and success France led the way. So 
far as available records go they prove that the portion of Can- 
ada (by which name at one time all the British possessions in 
North America were designated), now known as the Province 
of Quebec, was discovered during the early years of the Six- 
teenth Century by Jaques Cartier who sailed up the St. Law- 
rence River in A. D. 1535, before Puritanism was known in the 
world, and nearly one hundred years before the Puritans set 
foot upon the soil of America. He made other voyages the 
following and subsequent years when he devoted more time to 
exploration and acquiring a knowledge of the country and its 
strange people. Other French explorers subsequently visited 
these shores before the coming of Samuel de Champlain in 
A. D. 1608, who established a colony at Stadacona where the 
City of Quebec now is. 

The heart of France then thrilled with missionary zeal and 
many devoted priests accompanied these colonists to impart 
the blessings of religion, spiritual comfort, and guidance. 



Many missionaries of noble birth and highest attainments also 
left behind station and place in their native land and devoted 
their lives to the elevation of the red man from the depths of 
paganism and idolatry to the heights of Christianity. These 
apostolic men, in obedience to the command of the Master, 
buried themselves in the wilderness and spent the rest of their 
lives amid scenes of squalor and filth, in deprivation and suffer- 
ing, even heroically meeting death in the discharge of their 
sacred duties. Words are not necessary to add to the pathos 
of such lives as are recorded in the "Jesuit Relations " by the 
pen of the Rev. Ennemond Masse, S. J.: " This life is without 
order and without daily fare, without bread, without salt, and 
often without anything ; always moving on and changing ; in 
the wind, in the air, and in bad weather ; for a roof, a wretched 
cabin ; for a couch, the earth ; for rest and quiet, odors, cries 
and songs ; for medicine, hunger and hard work." 

They sought not the plaudits of men, yet the pens of our 
greatest historians and poets have embalmed their memory in 
the minds and hearts of a grateful posterity, and recorded their 
heroic achievements for God and civilization upon the brightest 
pages of history and literature. The heroic deeds, sacrifices 
and sufferings of Le Caron, Brebouf, Daniel, Lallemant, Jogues, 
Rasles, and unnumbered others of their companions, together 
with the devotion, privation and toil of the sainted women who 
sacrificed all that the world holds dear to aid in the good work, 
are as a luminous cloud of inspiration, triumph and glory, 
which will continue to reflect lustre upon their nationality, their 
religion, and their adopted country until the end of time. 

The Habitans* 

The colonists brought with them deep religious conviction 
and love for the Church of their fathers, in which they were 
born and reared. To them a good life was more important 
than honors and riches. In their every day life they exempli- 
fied the Christian virtues and squared their conduct by the 
Golden Rule. When differences arose between them they were 
usually settled by arbitration, or by their parish priest and 
spiritual guide, and such decision was cheerfully accepted as 



8 

final without violence to christian charity. However humble 
their lot, they ever strove to make their Church attractive and 
worthy the Divine Presence. They could not afford marble 
statuary for its adornment, and so casts from the works of the 
masters, of the Holy Family, an Apostle, patron saint, or other 
religious subjects, were procured to embellish it and make its 
teachings more realistic and lasting. During the winter season, 
and in the far north where natural flowers could not be obtained, 
artificial flowers were substituted for decorating the altar. No 
eflbrt was spared to follow the full and beautiful ceremonial of 
the Church according to the Roman ritual, as well as the cus- 
toms of the Church in motherland, and many of these are faith- 
fully observed by their descendants and successors to this day, 
some of which will be noticed later. 

English Intolerance and Injostfce. 

The enterprise and success of the people of France in colon- 
ization in North America, and of Jother nations in other parts 
of the Western Hemisphere, aroused the jealousy of England 
and stimulated to activity the national traits of conquest, 
aggrandizement, and domination. The people of England at 
that time were so far behind in the race with the nations of 
Continental Europe, and so little understood the work of suc- 
cessful colonization, which they were prompted to undertake 
through jealousy because of the success of other nations, that 
their first attempts in Maine, Massachusetts, and Virginia were 
rank failures. The English settlers seemed better fitted for the 
life of pirates and the practice of robbery, rapine and blood- 
shed than the less exciting and more humane life of the colo- 
nists from other countries. In this day of civilization and 
enlightenment, when so much incense is burned at the shrine 
of Anglo-Saxonism, this may seen> to some a bold and unwar- 
ranted charge, but an appeal to the history of the times will 
amply verify its truthfulness. 

We have only to recall the Royal robberies of the times — 
Cathedrals, Monasteries, educational and eleemosynary institu- 
tions and others — and the bloody history of the fleets of pirat- 



ical vessels fitted out in England to prey upon the commerce 
of the world, the brutality of the buccaneers of which Claude 
Uuv^al, Jack Cade, and Captain Kidd are types, and the blood 
curdling records of a Coote, Child, Drake, Hawkins and Ral- 
eigh — some of whose piratical triumphs were rewarded with the 
honors of knighthood — to realize a striking picture of the times> 
and of the ethics governing and animating those seated in high 
places of government, and even upo n the throne itself. For 
the present we must be content with the testimony of an Eng- 
lish historian who will not be accused of bias or prejudice, but 
who unlike too many of his successors who endeavor to apolo- 
gise for, explain away, or altogether omit the unpalatable truths 
of the times, has the honesty to admit them in all their repul- 
sive hideousness. 

Macaolay's Testimony. 

After going into the subject of pirates and piracy in England 
to very considerable length, the vast amounts realized there- 
from, and the adulation and honors heaped upon the successful 
marauders and murderers, Macaulay says: 

"The Indian Ocean, meanwhile, swarmed with pirates of 
whose rapacity and cruelty frightful stories were told. Many 
of these men, it was said, came from the North American Col- 
onies, and carried back to these colonies the spoils gained by 
crime. Even the Puritans of New England, who in sanctimo- 
nious austerity surpassed even their brethren in Scotland, were 
accused of conniving at the wickedness." 

This quotation also throws an interesting side light upon the 
character of some of the New England colonists now so gener- 
ally praised and even apotheosized. 

Jealous of the growth of the French colonies, and of the suc- 
cess of the black robe in converting the aborigines to Chris- 
tianit}', the British colonists were ever on the alert to discover 
opportunity for plunder, when an unprovoked attack would be 
made. The missionary being the special object of their hatred 
was treated with great indignity and not infrequently slain, the 
people butchered, the settlement robbed, and what could not 
be carried away was given to the flames. 



It IS worthy of note that in the first cx)nflict between the 
English and French on this continent the English were the 
aggressors. In 1613 the marauding freebooter, Argall, sailed 
from Virginia to the coast of Maine, where he attacked and 
destroyed the French settlement of Ste. Saveur, now Mount 
Desert, killing Brother Gabriel du Thet, and giving to the flames 
such booty as he could not carry away. Thus was shed the 
first blood that flowed so copiously an.d crimsoned the soil 
through so raarvy subsequent years as a result of bigoted intol- 
erance and unreasoning hate. Later writers have endeavored 
to apologize for if not condone the crime of Argall by saying 
that he was but one of the common herd of freebooters and 
outlaws of the time, without authority for the marauding expe- 
dition, and that his conduct would not be approved by those in 
authority. To prove that this is but special pleading, untruth- 
ful, and in harmony with the attempt very generally made dur- 
ing all the years since to gloss over the noted short comings 
and crimes of the early English settlers in this country, we have 
but to recall the facts that Argall, in obedience to the orders of 
his superiors, soon afterwards plundered and destroyed the 
French settlements at Ste. Croix, Port Royal, and other places^ 
and that when he returned to England later he was rewarded 
by being appointed Deputy Governor of Virginia in 161 7, suc- 
ceeding to the ofiSce of Governor soon after. 

A Foul Blot upon Massachusetts. 

Such brutality and devastation was continued during many- 
generations without interruption or remionstrance from those 
charged with the affairs of government, and too often it was 
instigated by them, but we must be content with the recital of 
one other instance, not only because of its fiendish atrocity, but 
also because it had its origin and endorsement in the state of 
Massachusetts, to which honor and praise is now so generally 
and bountifully given. 

In A. D. 1646, at the earnest solicitation of the Abnaki Ind- 
ians, Father Gabriel Druillettes, S. J., was sent by his Superior 
from Sillery near Quebec to establish a Mission on the river 
Kennebec. 



He left Sillery August 29, 1646, for his destination, and so 
far as known to history he was the first white man who ever 
penetrated the unbroken wilderness from the St. Lawrence into 
the wilds of central Maine. He journeyed to his destination by 
the same waterways traversed by Benedict Arnold and his de- 
tachment of Continental soldiers to attack Quebec more than 
one hundred years afterwards, and which were then well known^ 
He located at Narantsouk, now Norridgewock, where he erected 
his mission cross and was soon surrounded by a large congre- 
gation of peaceful converts and neophytes. 

This Mission was continued successfully for nearly eighty 
years, when the Missionary then in charge was butchered and 
the Mission destroyed by zealots from the English Colonists of 
Massachusetts. 

The New England Courant, August 24th, 1724, says : ''On 
Saturday last arrived Captain Johnson Harman from his expe- 
dition against the Indians at Norridgewock, and brought with 
him 28 scalps, one of which is Father Rasles their priest." 

And in " Massachusetts Council Records," Vol. 8, page 71-2, 
and " Westbrook Papers," page 155, we read : 

"At a Council held at the Council Chamber in Boston, on 
Saturday, August 22, 1724, Present : 

His Honor William Dummer, Esq., Lt. Gov. Penn Townsend, 
Add. Davenport, Adam Winthrop, Nathan Byfield, Esqrs., John 
Clark, Esq., Daniel Oliver, Esq., Edw. Bromfield, Thomas Fitch, 
Captain Johnson Harman being arrived from the Eastward with 
Indian scalps, together with the scalp of Sebastian Ralle, the 
Jesuit and Missionary among the Norridgewock Indians and 
the Standard of y* Sd Tribe of Indians, was directed to attend 
in Council, and there gave a short narrative of his march to 
Norridgewock (with four Companies of Soldiers under his com- 
mand) and of his action at the Sd Place, the twelfth instant, 
where he destroyed a great number of the enemy, many of 
whom being slain or drowned in the river, he could not recover 
their bodies. 

His Honor, the Lieutenant Governor, in consideration of the 
extraordinary service of y'' Sd Captain Harman, presented him 
4 



with a Commission for Lieutenant Colonel of his Majesty's 
forces eastward under the command of Coll. Thomas West- 
brook. Coll. Johnson Harman made solemn oath that the 
twenty-seven scalps above mentioned (which were produced in 
Council) were the scalps of rebel or enemy Indians slain by 
him and the forces under his command, and that they had taken 
four Indian prisoners. 

Pursuant to the x\ct, entitled an Act to encourage the perse- 
cution of the enemy and rebels : 

Advised and consented that a warrant be made out to the 
treasurer to pay unto y^ Sd. Coll. Johnson Harman, the sum of 
four hundred and five pounds for twenty-seven Indian scalps, 
and the further sum of twenty pounds for four Indian prisoners 
slain and taken as aforesaid ; y^ Sd sum to be by him distribu- 
ted to the officers and soldiers concerned therein, as y^ Sd Act 
directs. 

Coll. Johnson Harman likewise made oath that the other 
scalp was that of Sebastian Ralle, a Jesuit, who appeared at 
the head of the Indians and obstinately resisted the forces, 
wounding seven of the English and resolutely refusing to give 
or take quarter. 

Pursuant therefore to a resolve of the General Assembly 
passed at their session begun and held the 13th of July, 1720, 
in the words following, viz.: 

" This Court being credibly informed that Mons. Ralle, the 
Jesuit residing among the Eastern Indians, has not only on sev- 
eral occasions of late affronted His Majesty's Government of 
this Province but has also been the incendiary that has instiga- 
ted and stirred up these Indians to treat his Majesty's subjects 
settling there in the abusive, insolent, hostile manner that they 
have done. 

Resolved that a premium of one hundred pounds be allowed 
and paid out of the Public Treasury to any persons that shall 
apprehend y* Sd Jesuit within any part of this Province and 
bring him to Boston and render him to justice. 

Advised and consented that warrant be made out to the 
treasurer to pay unto y* Sd- Coll. Johnson Harman the above 



13 

Sd sum of one hundred pounds for his service in the destruction 
of y' Sd Sebastian Ralle, y* Sd sum to be divided among the 
officers and soldiers, as is directed in the Act for encouraging 
the persecution of the Indian enemy, etc " 

Such was the experience, and too often such was the fate, of 
the devoted missionary, fired with religious zeal, who left kith 
and kin and sacrificed all the allurements of the world to bring 
the light of the gospel and the blessings of civilization to the 
savages in the wilderness — and such is a picture of the bigotry 
and intolerance of the times, the malevolence of the people, and 
an illustration of the perversion of history. 

The Fostering Care of France. 

France meanwhile pushed the work of exploration, evangel- 
ization, and colonization — her conquests of peace, Christianity, 
and civilization extended westward to the Mississippi, south to 
the Gulf of Mexico, and in the far north as far as Hudson Bay, 
whither the Rev- Charles Albanel, S. J., another of the heroic 
band of devoted missionaries, accompanied by two companions 
and six Indians, made a tour of exploration and observation in 
A. D. 167 1-2, going overland through an unbroken wilderness 
from Quebec, to learn the nature of the country, the number of 
the aborigines, their habits, disposition and needs. Such enter- 
prise and success stimulated the worst passions of the English 
people, who continued to meet this conquest of peace and 
Christianity with determined opposition, persecution, and open 
warfare, which were persisted in from their earliest settlement 
in the country until victory crowned their efforts by the over- 
throw of France upon this continent in A.D. 1759 on the plains 
of Abraham, which was ratified and confirmed by the Treaty 
of Palis in A. D. 1763. 

English Aggression and Diplomacy. 

Meanwhile the persecuting people of the British colonies 
were in turn made to feel the iron heel of despotism of the 
Mother Country, but less for religious hate and animosity than 
for revenue, aggrandizement and dominion, and this led to re- 
bellion and bloodshed a few years later in 1775. At this junc- 



14 

ture in their affairs the people of the thirteen colonies in revolt 
very naturally supposed that the people of Canada, smarting 
under the sting of recent defeat and overthrow, would join with 
them to combat a common enemy. Englar>d fearing this and 
to conciliate them and win their friendship and aid, as a matter 
of policy and not of principle, enacted the " Quebec Act," which 
many Statesmen consider the greatest act of diplomacy ever 
recorded upon the pages of history. Under its conditions the 
original settlers in Canada were guaranteed all the rights and 
privileges, civil and religious, hitherto enjoyed by them under 
the fostering aad protecting laws of France, save allegiance to 
the Crown — in fact creating an anomaly among the govern- 
ments of the world, a British dependency under the religion, 
laws, language and customs of her bitterest enemy and rival — 
rights and privileges which were op>enly denounced, violently 
opposed, and denied to Catholics — even at the expense of life 
itself — in the British Isles and other British dependencies 
where the iniquitous penal laws were still in force in all their 
barbarous cruelty and repulsiveness. 

While this restoration of rights had a re-assuring and concilia- 
ting effect upon the people of Canada, and tended to win their 
friendship and allegiance to the crown of England, the motive 
that prompted it was apparent to all. 

Writers of the time assert that the Canadians were in hearty 
sympathy with the work undertaken by the revolted colonists- 
to throw off the galling yoke of England, and that they would 
very probably have co-operated with them to aid in driving the 
Union Jack and all that it syn>bolizes from the Northern Hem- 
isphere, ending British dominion therein, and extending the 
boundary of the United States to the most northern limit of the 
continent, but for the restraining influence of their clergy and' 
the renewed outbreak of bigotry and intolerance with which the 
revolted colonists denounced the enactment and promulgation 
of the Quebec Act, and which found noisy expression in their 
broadsides, pamphlets, meeting-houses, and public gatherings 
throughout the colonies. This recrudescence of proscription^ 
intolerance, bigotry,, and hate was already crystalized into law 



15 

in many of the colonies where it was a penal offence for a 
Catholic priest to enter, and even a capital offence if he per- 
formed any of his sacred functions. Granting their rights to 
the people of Canada by England by the Quebec Act intensified 
this feeling and led to violent opposition and protest on the 
part of the colonists, whose bigotry, intolerance, and iniquitous 
laws against Catholics were well known in Canada. Many stu- 
dents of History now recognize the enactment and promulga- 
tion of this Act as the chief cause, if not the only cause in the 
last analysis, which precipitated the contest and resort to arms 
on the part of the colonists against the mother country, and as 
(he astute measure which secured Canada and all the vast terri- 
tory embraced under this name to the British crown. 

Bigotry of the British Colonists. 

The records of this blind, unreasoning bigotry and hate which 
now in a more enlightened and tolerant age seem so out of 
place, and which cost the revolted colonists the loss of a valu- 
able ally, large quantities of much needed military stores, and 
vast territory, are not now often allowed to see the light of day, 
and they will have to be sought with difficulty hidden away in 
the archives of the distant past. 

In the Suffolk County (Mass ) resolves sent to the Continen- 
tal Congress which asembled in Philadelphia in 1774, we read : 

"That the establishment of the Roman Catholic religion and 
French law in Canada is dangerous in the extreme to the 
Protestant religion and the civil rights and liberties of all Amer- 
ica. Therefore we are obliged to take all proper measures for 
our security." 

And this congress when it assembled in Philadelphia appoint- 
ed a committee consisting of Lee, Livingston, and Jay, to frame 
an address to the people of England stating their position and 
grievances and demanding a remedy. The notorious bigot, 
John Jay, whose descendants inherit and manifest his bigotry 
and intolerance whenever opportunity offers even down to this 
day, was made chairman of this committee, and to him was 
assigned the work of drafting the address. He could not let 



i6 

such a good opportunity pass without incorporating in and giv- 
ing expression to the general outcry against the Quebec Act, 
which was so in harmony with his ignorance, bigotry and malev- 
olence, which he did in the following language : 

" Nor can we suppress our astonishment that a British Parlia- 
ment should ever consent to establish in that country a Religion 
that has deluged your island in blood and dispersed Impiety,. 
Bigotry, Persecution, Murder and Rebellion through every part 
of the World." 

Nor can the Congress which approved and authorized the 
transmission of such sentiments and brazen falsehood be held 
less culpable or blameworthy ; and yet, in their hour of trial 
and distress, these same men and their compatriots were not 
slow to send Franklin and the Catholic Carroll to seek the aid 
of Catholic France, without which they and their cause must 
have suffered ignominious defeat, and there would now be no 
United States to embellish the map of the world. 

Facing such hostile speech and sentiment, is it any wonder 
that the people of Canada refused to hearken to the appeal of 
Franklin, Chase, and Carroll, who were sent to them as a com- 
mittee to secure their friendly co-operation ? Is it any wonder 
that they refused to take up arms for a people who were so 
openly and avowedly hostile to them and their religion ? 

The Duplicity of Human Nature. 

It is true that soon after the promulgation of the Quebec 
Act, and the use of such violent epithets against it to the crown 
and people of England without avail, as the time drew near for 
resort to arms the Continental Congress prepared an "Address 
to the Inhabitants of Quebec,'' a portion of which is reproduced 
to show the change of tone in a very short space of time, and 
to emphasize the duplicity of human nature: 

" What is offered you by the late A6t of Parliament — Liberty 
of Conscience in your Religion ? No. God gave it to you ^nd 
the temporal powers with which you have been and are con- 
nected finally stipulated for your enjoyment of it 

An insolent Ministry persuade themselves that you will engage 



17 

to take up arms by becoming tools in their hands, to assist them 
in taking that freedom from us treacherously denied to you. 

VVe are too well acquainted with the Liberality of 

Sentiment distinguishing your nation to imagine that Difference 
of Religion will prejudice you against a hearty Amity with us." 

And again later another Address was sent from which the 
following extracts are taken : " VVe perceived the fate of the 
Protestant and Catholic Colonics to be strongly linked together, 
and therefore invite you to join with us in resolving to be Free, 
and in rejecting, with disdain, the Fetters of Slavery, however 

artfully polished The enjoyment of your very religion, 

in the present system, depends on a Legislature in which you 
have no Share, and over which you have no Controul, and your 
Priests are exposed to Expulsion, Banishment, and Ruin, when- 
ever their Wealth and Possessions furnish sufficient Tempta- 
tion. VVe are your friends not your enemies." 

And another attempt was made in November, 1775, when the 
Congress appointed Livingston, Paine, and Langdon Commis- 
sioners to secure their friendly alliance. Some of their instruc- 
tions were: "You may assure them that we shall hold their 
rights as dear as our own. You may and are hereby empow- 
ered to declare that we hold sacred the rights of Conscience, 
and that we shall never molest them in the free enjoyment of 
their religion." 

Canadians remain Loyal. 

Put all efforts to seduce them from their loyalty to the British 
Crown proved fruitless. They were doubtless confirmed in 
their loyalty by the teaching of their church, which makes it a 
grevious sin to rebel against lawfully constituted authority, by 
their want of confidence in the professions of their hitherto 
persecutors and oppressors, and by the restoration of their 
rights secured to them by that greatest Act of Diplomacy — the 
Quebec Act. To this Great Britian doubtless owes her vast 
possessions in the Northern Hemisphere of the Western world 
today — a territory greater in area than that of the United 
States. 



i8 

This far seeing legislation, which was so out of harniony with 
the bigotry, intolerance, injustice, and persecution of the times, 
was presented in the House of Lords by Lord Dartmouth, May 
2, 1774, and was passed without opposition May 17. 

In the house of Commons it was violently assailed, but being 
a royal measure and demanded by the exigences then confront- 
ing the country all opposition was without avail and it passed 
that body June 13, 1774, received the royal assent June 22 fol- 
lowing, and is known in law as 14 Geo. iii, Cap. 83. It was to 
go and went into effect in Canada May i, 1775. 

A few ultra-British writers of our own time, blinded by pre- 
judice and who live in the distant past, strive in vain to prove 
that England was then actuated solely by a desire to fulfil treaty 
obligations, that the mutterings of insubordination, discontent, 
and threats of the neighboring Colonies — which soon after 
resulted in op>en warfare and independence — were not an im- 
pelling motive, that the government of England — King, Lords 
and Commons — were imbeciles, and that the enactment and 
promulgation of the Act was a great mistake from which Eng- 
land has never recovered. 

Recalling the many violated treaties recorded against England 
in the pkges of history, which with other things have earned for 
her the uncomplimentary title of perfidious Albion — her iniqui- 
tous, brutal and brutalizing penal laws in force elsewhere in her 
dominions against the co-religionists of the Canadians, the need 
she had for a friendly people in this distant land and a friendly 
harbor to land her army and military stores, and the concensus 
of history bearing upon the subject, we may dismiss this as 
only another testimony to the intense morbid intolerence and 
prejudice, long since crystallized into a national trait, which 
warps the judgment and renders an impartial and judicial con- 
sideration of the facts of history impossible, and now such at- 
tempt to prove that England was then governed by fools, needs 
no other answer than " there is none so blind as those who will 
not see," and none so ignorant as those who refuse to learn. 



19 

English Settlers in Canada^ 

Soon after the conquest, French emigration having practically 
ceased, England made great efforts to supplant the French pop- 
ulation by liberally subsidizing emigration and sending over 
large numbers of British emigrants, but they being intolerant 
and full of bitterness toward the religion of the inhabitants, as 
many, very many of their descendants continue to the present 
time, as is too painfully evident, they would not locate amongst 
not near the French settlers in the older portions of the cotvntry 
along the St. Lawrence River, but betook themselves to that 
portion of the country now known as the Province of Ontario. 

After the close of the war of the Revolution a considerable 
number of the Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam and other 
adventurous Colonists who swelled their numbers, emigrated to 
Canada, where they sought and obtained generous bounty— "- 
upwards of $35,000,000.00, vast areas of land, and political 
preferment — as a panacea for their loyalty. These latter soon 
after organized under the name of the United Empire Loyalists, 
which organization their descendants still find it profitable to 
perpetuate. 

Such a people could not long remain in contentment under 
existing laws, and being turbulent and restive, they so pestered 
and annoyed the home government with complaint and impor- 
tunity for a separate government and different laws that they 
brought about the division of Canada in 1791 into two parts, 
which were then named Lower Canada and Upper Canada, and 
a separate parliament was constituted in the latter when the 
British code became their law, the people of Lower Canada 
remaining under their then existing form of government. 

Agitation and discontent succeeded agitation and discontent 
in Upper Canada, and envious of the success of the people of 
the older Province, they succeeded with the aid of the com- 
plaisant home government in effecting a union of governments 
in 1841 when they became known as Canada East and Canada 
West, and so remained until merged by the confederation of 
the various provinces in 1867 into the Dominion of Canada, 
when they were named the Province of Quebec and the Pro- 
vince of Ontario. 



Here now is seen the anomaly of two provinces as unlike in 
origin, religion, tastes, and practices as can well be imagined, 
yet living in f>eace and friendly rivalry beside each other, and 
owing allegiance to a common flag to which they are devotedly 
loyal. 

But the early intolerance and antipathy, founded on race and 
religious prejudice, has been and is an important if not the 
determining factor in keeping alive much of the ancicn regime 
in the Province of Quebec. 

Loyal to old Customs* 

In many of the rural districts of this Province old customs 
and quaint practices are nearly as well defined and as unique 
to-day as in the days when first introduced centuries ago under 
the fostering care of the Jleur de lis of France. 

While innovation and change are apparent in the cities and 
larger centres of population, doubtless stimulated by travel, 
observation, and interchange of ideas, by a mixed population 
with different customs and practices, and in deference to 
modern demands, yet in rural comn>unities the primitive ways, 
quaint customs and practices of early times still obtain — and 
this is more particularly true and striking in the Church, in 
church management, observances, and practices. 

The early colonists being well instructed in their religion and 
very obedient to its requirements and customs, brought with 
them a knowledge of the wealth and beauty of the ceremonies 
of the Church ; and the clergy and missionaries being well 
schooled in and accustomed to the grandeur, beauty, and appro- 
priateness of the Roman ritual, ever sought to give added mean- 
ing, beauty, and significance to every Church function by full 
adherence to and observance of its every requirement — to give 
outward expression and emphasis to the interior meaning. 

The Lay Element in the Church. 

As in the older countries where the Church is governed by 
canon law the lay element in the Province of Quebec is recog- 
nized and accorded its proper voice in the secular affairs of the 



Church. On the formal establishment of a parish by the Bishop, 
the congregation elects three members who are known as Syndics 
or Marguilliers (church wardens) who with the pastor consti- 
tute the Fabrique^ a corporation in the eye of the law, a board 
of management of the temporalities of the Church which may 
sue and be sued. One of these members at the outset is elected 
for one year, one for two, and one for three years ; one retires 
each year when at the annual meeting of the parish a new 
member is elected always leaving two men with experience to 
continue in office. In long years of experience in and knowl- 
edge of the workings of this system, not a single case of 
friction or unpleasantness is recalled, and the knowledge of 
business brought to bear in the matter of building, repairing, 
and the care and management of churches, convents, schools 
and the like, has been of inestimable benefit and value, and a 
great lessening of the burdens borne by the priests in the 
United States. 

The parishioners who are elected to this board are recog- 
nized as the lay head of the parish, and corresponding honor 
is paid to them. For their use a special pew is erected upon an 
elevated banc or platform apart from the pews and at the side 
of the the church near the sanctuary railing. It is generally 
more elaborately constructed than the other pews, is surmounted 
by a canopy or Crucifix, or both, and is provided with a lighted 
candle at each end during Mass. The member in his third 
year of service is the chairman and sits at the head of the pew, 
and always takes precedence over the other members. 

After the singers and acolytes, who are seated within the 
sanctuary, they receive the Asperges before it is bestowed upon 
the people ; on Palm Sunday they receive the palms from the 
hands of the priest at the Sanctuary rail, and they take preced- 
ence at all functions of the Church wherein the laity have part, 
such as formal gatherings, in the Fete Dieu procession and 
other church functions, escorting the Bishop to and from the 
railway station on the occasion of his visits, and the like. 



The Services of the Church. 

In the services of the Church in rural communities only the 
Gregorian music is sung by male voices, unless upon exceptional 
occasions. The singers, gowned in white surplices, sit within 
the sanctuary and sing the alternate parts. Their work is not 
that of the modern shrieking soprano, whose disedifying and 
trilling efforts seem much better suited to divert the mind and 
attention of the hearers than to inspire devotion and praise, 
not that of the paid tenor who is content with nothing less than 
modern operatic airs, but it is from the heart — sturdy, unaf- 
fected, devotional. 

During the month of May, f^te days, and on sf>ecial occasions 
females may be admitted to the organ loft in the gallery and 
allowed to take part in the singmg. In the churches of the 
cities regular choirs of mixed voices now sing, and figured 
music of the less florid type is not infrequently performed. 

The bell, called the " tongue of the Church," sounds out the 
A?igelus morning, noon, and night, at the elevation, at all 
Masses, baptisms and weddings ; at a death it tolls the age of 
the deceased, and as soon as the funeral cortege comes within 
sight of the church its solemn knell adds another to the mourn- 
ful solemnities of the occasion. When the Angelus bell sounds 
the faithful who are working in the fields turn toward the church, 
uncover their heads, and recite the prescribed prayers. This is 
well illustrated by the celebrated painting by Millais. 

The Agapce, a custom introduced in Afxjstolic times, is still 
observed. A basket and napkins, provided by the Fabrique, 
or parish, are taken home by some member who returns 
them the following Sunday morning with a sufficient number of 
loaves of bread which, when cut into small cubes or pieces, will 
be sufficient for all members of the congregation to receive one. 
These loaves are placed upon a small table in the sanctuary 
before the altar where the priest blesses them before Mass. 
The loaves are then removed to the sacristy by the sacristan, 
sexton, or beadle, where they are cut into small pieces and dis- 
tributed to the congregation during Mass — to the Syndics first 
and then to the rest of the congregation. Every person receiv- 



23 

ing a portion devoutly makes the sign of the cross with it and 
then consumes it. After Mass the basket and napkins are 
taken away by the person who brought them and the bread, and 
delivered to his nearest neighbor, who performs a similar service 
the following Sunday, who returns basket and napkins to his 
neighbor, and so the work goes continually on throughout the 
entire parish without interruption. 

The origin of this custom has received various explanations. 
Some writers contend that it had its origin in the brotherly 
gatherings and feasts of the early Christians (i. Cor. XI), some 
as typifying the charity with which Christians should feed the 
poor, others the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and 
fishes, which typify the Blessed Eucharist, etc. 

Be this as it may, the paifi benit is a living reality in the 
church of the habttans, and its abandonment would be to them 
a sad innovation and omission from the ceremonial of the 
Church. 

At the Asperges, the priest, preceded by the cross-bearer, 
acolytes, and accompanied by an assistant who carries the holy 
water, makes the circuit of the church, which gives an added 
importance, impressiveness and solemnity to the ceremony over 
the more abridged and perfunctory blessing from within the 
sanctuary. 

A parish Mass is offered by the parish priest in the spring- 
time to invoke the blessing of God upon the seeds about to be 
cast into the earth, and it is no infrequent occurrence to hear 
the announcement from the pulpit that some member of the 
parish, sometimes named and sometimes nameless, has arranged 
for a similar Mass — and it sometimes happens that several are 
provided for and announced at the same time. 

Again, Masses are offered for an abundant harvest, for rain, 
for fair weather, relief from war, epidemics, sickness, for mem- 
bers of a family, for God's blessing upon the Parish, and the 
like. 

Great solemnity is given to all the feasts and festivals of the 
Church, but to none more than to the fete Djeu, or Corpus 
Christi. For days and weeks previous old and young vie with 
each other in planting evergreen trees along the route of the 

7 



24 

procession, often forming their tops into arches and decorating 
them with mottoes and banners. Special attention is bestowed 
upon the repository, and the best that the parishioners can 
bring is none too good to add to its beauty and attractiveness. 
Its masses of evergreen and wealth of flowers, rendered more 
beautiful by scores of lighted candles, make an imposing mid- 
summer spectacle. Preceding the canopy, which is usually 
borne by four of the patriarchs of the parish, little girls dressed 
in white and crowned with garlands strew wild flowers in the 
pathway from baskets suspended from their necks by brilliant 
colored ribbons. The scene is imposin:g and the devoutness of 
all very impressive and edifying. 

Midnight Mass is always celebrated on Christmas eve, for 
which great preparations are also made to render the occasion^ 
worthy of the Feast of the Nativity. The church is always 
filled to overflowing with devout worshippers, some of whom 
come many miles, and all enter with zest into the spirit of the 
joyful season. 

The priest makes an annual visit to every family in his par- 
ish, accompanied by one or more of the Syndics, when he takes 
an ofificial census, inquires after their spiritual condition, and 
other matters of importance in accordance with a prescribed 
form sent out by the Bishop. This serves to more closely unite 
pastor and people and furnishes reliable statistics of his pa- 
rishioners and parish. 

In rural communities the priest receives for his principal com- 
pensation regular tithes which the law imposes upon every hus- 
bandman, the payment of which can be enforced by process of 
law when necessary as other taxes miay be colle6led. 

With few exceptions, such as corn and potatoes, every farmer 
must pay into the granary of Monsieur le Cure every twenty- 
sixth bushel of the crops with which he may be blessed. This 
tithe or tax is cheerfully and generously paid as a just and rea- 
sonable contribution to the maintenance and decency of wor- 
ship of the God who thus blesses with bountiful harvests. In 
extensive farming communities it will readily be surmised that 
the priest's granary is the largest and best filled of all. Under 
French law all who are baptized intC) the Catholic Church, butt 



25 

who do not go to Church, or who may have joined and attend a 
Protestant church, must pay such tithes to the parish priest, 
and they can be compelled to do so by law until they publicly 
abjure the faith according to the ritual prescribed by the Church 
for such abjuration and apostasy. 

In former times, before the advent of the newspaper and 
telegraph, the news of the parish and such outside news as 
might come by some traveller or emigrant, was rehearsed before 
the dispersal of the congregation after Mass, and until very 
recent times the old custom survived that no laws enacted by 
the Government had binding force until publicly read and pro- 
claimed (called homologated) from the parish church door after 
High Mass on a Sunday or Holy day of obligation by the sher- 
iff of ihe county or other duly deputed ofificer. 

Another custom in strange contrast with the observance of 
the Puritan Sabbath is the sale of farm products, grain, grass- 
seed, fruit, vegetables, lambs, pigs, fowls, honey and the like, at 
auction after Mass, at the church door. 

An explanation of this custom is found in the long distances 
many of the parishioners live away from the church in all direc- 
tions — six, eight, ten, and even in some cases twenty miles, 
when others living in an opposite direction might be in need of 
such things without knowing where to obtain them, besides sav- 
ing long journeys over bad roads and much valuable time dur- 
ing the busy season. 

The cemetery usually adjoins the church, and there seems to 
be something appropriate in having the dead gathered about 
the altar before which they worshipped in life, and where their 
remains will be near their relatives when they assemble to par- 
ticipate in the offices of the Church. The priest accompanied 
by the cross bearer, thurifer, and acolytes with lighted caudles, 
receives the corpse upon the bier at the church door where he 
blesses it and then escorts it chanting the Miserere or the De 
Profundus to its place at the sanctuary rail before the altar, 
when the Requiem Mass is sung and the funeral obsequies per- 
formed with such pomp and circumstance as the taste of friends 
may dictate and their means afford, from the plainest low Mass 
to the most elaborate known to the ritual of the Church, inclu- 



26 

ding the draping of the entire church and windows in sombre 
black. 

Travellers meeting a funeral procession usually turn around 
and face in the direction which it is going, and while it is pass- 
ing bare their heads if the season permits, and when the de- 
ceased was a prominent person the remains are escorted a short 
distance before the journey is resumed. 

Devotions and pious customs and practices are not limited to 
Sundays and Holy days. They are woven into and become a 
part of the every day life of the people. They are not so eager 
for riches as to live well. The members of the family are gath- 
ered in prayer every night when the rosary is said and other 
prayers ; a farm is bought and M. le Cure is sent for to come 
and bless it ; a house is built, and it may be but a log cabin on 
the frontier, but before moving in M. le Cure comes again and 
blesses the new home. 

When settlements are made in outlying places where parishes 
have not been organized Calvaires are erected by the roadside 
upon the first land cleared, and here gather the faithful on Sun- 
days and Holy days to join in public prayers. Large crosses 
and Calvaires are erected on other farms as they are taken up 
and reclaimed from the wilderness, and later when a parish is 
organized and the people have more means, they are made more 
elaborate by the erection of a shrine and placing therein a 
group representing the Holy Family, an Apostle, the patron 
saint of the parish, the emblems of the Crucifixion — the cross, 
hammer and nails. 

Filial devotion and respect is a very marked characteristic in 
the homes of the people as becomes the Christian family. New 
Year's day, y'^///' de T An, is a day of special rejoicing and family 
reunion when every member of the family from those in the 
days of earliest childhood to those who have grown to manhood 
and womanhood, and even those whose heads are crowned 
with the snows of years, return to the home of their childhood 
and on bended knees supplicate and receive the aged parents' 
blessing. 

Their sense of justice does not rest upon a human founda- 
tion — the vote of a majority — nor does it permit them to violate 



27 

the God-given rights of conscience because they are in the 
majority and can impose their will upon a helpless minority. 

Under the laws of their making the Protestant minority are 
permitted to maintain schools of their own, paying all their 
school taxes thereto, and if there are not Protestants enough in 
any school district to maintain a school they are permitted to 
join with other school districts to do so. And should any Prot- 
estant family or families, whose children have reached adult 
years, live in a Catholic community and no school be necessary, 
they can elect to what school or institution they wish their taxes 
paid, no matter where located nor what distance away. With 
them it is simply a business proposition decided according to 
justice and not according to fanaticism and bigotry, a practical 
exemplification of the Golden Rule. 

Strange as it may seem, in other Provinces of the Dominion 
where Protestantism dominates, and where the freedom, liberal- 
ity and equal rights of Protestantism is volubly and vauntingly 
proclaimed, the rights of Roman Catholics in educational mat- ' 
ters are trampled under foot, and the justice they render unto 
others where they are in the majority is denied to them by their 
fellow citizens where they are in the minority. 

A convent and school is generally located near the parochial 
residence and church, and here the young are taught the corredl 
principles of living — the moral faculties are cultivated and de- 
veloped as well as the intellectual. Character is molded and 
formed upon true Christian lines, the individual aided and 
guided to realize the rights of God and his duties toward man — 
the true end for which he was created — and not turned loose 
upon society a mere intellectual machine without moral devel- 
opment, balance, symmetry or ballast Such an education 
makes a people who put eternity above time, heaven above 
earth, the spiritual above the temporal, principle above expedi- 
ency, and an upright life before riches. 

Living where they do and as they do, buttressed and sup- 
ported by their religion, they can be nothing else but Catholics 
in their religious belief, but at the threshold of the Twentieth 
century, with the spirit of uneasiness and unrest let loose and 
spreading over the land, with thousands upon thousands leaving 



28 

these salutary props and supports behind, with proselytism 
backed by abundant means stalking through the land, it may 
be fairly questioned if the time has not arrived for them to 
make re-arrangement of studies and give more attention to the 
deeper truths of their religion, the polemical, and to the 
sciences. 

It is true that it is highest wisdom as well as the teaching of 
the Scriptures to fullv realize that "the Kingdom of Heaven 
suffereth violence and only the violent bear it away," and 
•' What profiteth it if a man gains the whole world and lose his 
soul," but it is also true, and has the authority of the Scrip- 
tures as well, that when God created man He gave him domin- 
ion over the earth with command to go forth and subdue it. 

Too many of these unsuspecting, innocent, honest Catholics 
when they leave home and the surroundings of childhood and 
the safeguards of their country, are like the hot-house plant 
when subjected to the vicissitudes of the elements, like the seed 
that fell upon the barren soil, taking root and flourishing for a 
short time, but when temptation, indifference, agnosticism, and 
the other gilded isms of the day overtake them in a non-Catho- 
lic atmosphere, wither up and fall away. In these latter days 
simple faith is a very poor armament with which to meet the 
warfare of the world, and to overcome the seeming logic and 
clap-trap of the designing proselytizer, and the scoffing and 
sneers of the infidel and the agnostic. 

In the Province of Quebec there is no extreme wealth and 
no abject poverty. The people are always ready to assist each 
other, to extend charity to aid any worthy cause, and to allevi- 
ate affliction and suffering. No parish is too poor to aid the 
Society for the Propagation of the Faith, and their contributions 
put to shame their more pretentious and wealthy neighbors in 
the United States. Nearly every parish has also a Society of 
the Holy Childhood whose contributions have maintained many 
missionaries in heathen lands and saved many precious souls 
to heaven. 

A daily round of duties well and faithfully performed, reason- 
able competency and peace of mind, are prized beyond super- 
fluous wealth obtained at the expense of worry, anxiety, disap- 
pointments and ruined health. 



29 

The sun rises clear and the day is fair — the habitan is happy 
and gives thanks ; morning comes with lowering skies and night 
brings affliction — the habiiiui sees in this the hand of God, gives 
praise, and is reconciled. As comes the day, as goes the day — 
God so ordains, and to His wisdom and goodness be humble 
submission and praise. 

Turning away from the excitement and the artificial life of 
the popular seaside and mountain resort, and outside the well- 
worn pathways of tourist travel, a vacation can be pleasantly 
and profitably spent in the neighboring Province of Quebec 
with a quaint Christian people, and amid scenes more sug- 
gestive of medii-evalism than the artificial, stilted, throbbing 
life of the twentieth century which is in such painful evidence 
elsewhere. 



'J5 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



017 398 062 



